WASHINGTON, Oct 13 (Reuters): The Bush administration is considering a possible new military relationship with Pakistan that could include transfers of new arms but does not anticipate a more formal military alliance with the frontline ally in the US anti-terror war, officials have said.
"Depending on the circumstances, there might be some military cooperation but that is not decided yet and what it might be and to what extent is hard to say," one official told Reuters yesterday.
The decision will depend on Pakistans needs and other factors ,-the extent of Islamabads continued cooperation with the United States in Afghanistan, its nonproliferation commitments and its pursuit of domestic reforms, he said.
Many different ideas are being considered but "certainly no military alliance is contemplated, the official added.
Some discussion on this subject may occur when secretary of state Colin Powell visits Islamabad next week.
India, Pakistans nuclear rival in South Asia, has grown extremely nervous as the anti-terror war launched after the Sept.
11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon brought Washington once again into close ties with Islamabad.
Pakistan is a crucial ally as the United States hunts the suspected mastermind behind the attacks, Saudi fugitive Osama bin Laden, his network of Islamic militants and the Taliban leaders who harbor him in Afghanistan.
Since the attacks, Congress has waived sanctions on Pakistan that blocked military, economic and other assistance in an effort to give president George W.
Bush maximum flexibility to respond to the terrorism threat.
The United States and international financial institutions moved quickly to address economically distressed Pakistans need for debt relief and refugee assistance.
Indias ambassador to Washington, Lalit Mansingh, said earlier this week his government understands the need for a short-term tactical alliance between the United States and Pakistan in the new war against terrorism.
But New Delhi would oppose any kind of "military supplies" to Pakistan or revived long-term US.
military alliance with Islamabad as existed in the cold war, he said.
Pakistan has not made any specific requests for military aid since the US attacks on Sept.
11, Pakistan embassy spokesman Assad Hayauddin said.
So far, Pakistani officials have been more preoccupied with winning promises of economic assistance to stabilize their badly damaged economy.
But before the attacks, senior Pakistani officials argued US sanctions caused their conventional arsenal to erode and forced their government to depend on a nuclear deterrence.
The United States had imposed sanctions on Pakistan because of its nuclear program and its acquisition of missile technology from China and remains concerned about those issues.
Anthrax cases could be linked to Laden WASHINGTON, Oct 13 (Reuters): US Vice president Dick Cheney has said there could be links between the discovery of four anthrax cases in the United States and Osama bin Laden, chief suspect in terror attacks on New York and Washington.
Cheney yesterday said although there was not enough evidence to positively pin down a connection, the cases of anthrax in Florida and New York were "suspicious." "I think the only responsible thing for US to do is proceed on the basis that it could be linked," Cheney told journalist Jim Lehrer in an interview on PBSs "newshour." Cheney said the United States had ample evidence that bin Ladens followers had been trained in how to spread biological and chemical weapons.